Saturday, March 16, 2024

6/10mm Russian Village

As I mentioned previously, next up would most likely be another Total Battle Miniatures village set. I decided to tackle the Russian village I plan to use for my Crimean War games. So here it is finished. 

In my post on the pike and shotte village, I neglected to include a picture of the village "footprint" sans buildings. As you can see there are recesses for the buildings to fit into. I believe these are in multiples of 30mm (e.g. 30x30, 30x60, etc.). 

Here we have the village with all of the buildings. The footprint was painted with brown craft paint as a base and highlighted. The shrubbery was painted olive and given a few gradually lighter green highlights via wet and drybrush methods.

And a different angle. I used a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Shield Brown and Neutral Grey as the base color for the buildings, I drybrushed them with the same mmix but some off-white added to lighten them up and make raised details and edges pop a bit more. Once painting was done, a gloss varnish was sprayed on all parts followed by an ink washing and matte varnish. The buildings also received some diluted Army Painter military ink to give the impression of vegetation growth (moss, lichen, etc) on the natural wood.

The village with a 10mm Russian infantry battalion marching through. The figures are Magister Militum which are no longer in business. 

Now some Russian Hussars (also Magister Militum) make a visit. 

The parade of Hussars from another angle. The figure bases are 30mm wide and just sneak thru the road running thru the village.

I started working on the Italian village which I hope to finish next and display in a subsequent post. The Italian set is all one integral piece and doesn't have the advantage of modularity.  


Friday, March 15, 2024

Playtest of Liber Militum Tercios

I plan to refight the battle of Fleurus (1622) from the Thirty Years War with my gaming buddy Alex sometime in the next couple of weeks. The rules will be Liber Militum's Tercios, and while I've read through them a few times, I have never actually played them. I decided tonight would be a quick run-through of the mechanics using a few infantry units a side. 

Here's the setup: three protestant classic squadrons (left) versus two Spanish tercios (right). This is about 50% of the infantry that will be fielded in the proper battle. To keep it simple, the units are plain with no veteran, mercenary or raw status. 


One of the major components of the game mechanics are hidden order cards that are turned over alternately. The order has an action and a reaction option. The cards have less impact since I'm playing solo. For my playtest, both sides will advance initially but the tercios plan to move into melee and the protestants will stop and fire salvoes. 


The protestants (blue dice) won initiative over the Spanish (yellow ) with a score of  4-1. The protestants can choose to activate first or second. They chose first. 


At the beginning of the 2nd turn the left flank unit of the Protestants turned over a fire card, since the distance was less than 8 inches, both arqubues and muskets were in range giving them 3 dice which needed to match or exceed the tercio's defense against salvoes (which was a 4), they rolled three 6s! The tercio rolled to save the hits, using their courage rating (a 4) which meant they had 4 dice in which they needed a 4+. They only got one successful save, two hits (those red puffs) were inflicted in the tercio. Had the tercio not made any successful saves, they also would have been disordered ( a reduction in their discipline). I inadvertently gave them a white puff to denote disorder but I quickly removed it when I reread the rules. 


The other tercio surged forward to try and close into melee. The protestant middle squadron revealed their "fire" order card as a reaction. The advantage of this card is that there is no penalty for reactive fire. The protestant squadron inflicted a few hits as the tercio closed into melee. During the subsequent push of pike, the protestants got the better of it and the tercio was pushed back with a total of 4 wear markers (i.e. hits). 

The tercio with two wear markers used a resist card to remove one of them (one always stays) and the other tercio with four wear markers was able to remove one as well. Unfortunately they were charged by a protestant unit and suffered badly with 3 more hits (or wear markers) while only inflicting one on their enemy. The tercio had more hits than they had stamina and had to take.a break check. They passed this time. 

At this point, the protestant squadron decided to declare a "bad war" which can be called by either side in a melee of both units are armed with pikes. In the event of a "bad war", melee is continued for another round. This happened a few more times until the tercio failed a break check and was broken. At this point, I called the playtest complete. 

I did some things wrong but I got a good idea of how the basic mechanics work. I imagine there will be more to learn with cavalry, artillery and terrain on the tabletop (especially all of it present at the same time). The Spanish performed poorly because of bad dice rolls and my assumption that tercios would be significantly more devastating in melee. They aren't. The tercios benefit from being more resilient and harder to flank but that is about it. I enjoyed the rules and look forward to more playtest and a proper game. 





 

Sunday, March 10, 2024

6/10mm Village and Fleurus

If there's one thing that I neglect regarding the hobby, it's scenery. I own a good amount of it but the majority of it stays in storage...unpainted. 

A few years back, during the pandemic, I painted up 10mm Thirty Years War armies based on the Battle of Fleurus (1622). The armies are painted but I have yet to actually game with them. Initially I had planned to use In Deo Veritas as a ruleset but think that I will try Liber Militum's Tercios rules instead. 

The battlefield of Fleurus has fields, woods, some roads and a small farm/hamlet. The farm was fortified and occupied by a Spanish contingent of shot. The problem is that while I had something suitable, it wasn't painted up. 

That something suitable was a 17th century village from Total Battle Miniatures (TBM). The TBM kits usually consist of a rubber footprint of the village with recesses for the buildings. I finally painted up the village this weekend and I'm pleased with the results.

Here you can see the finished village with a larger building of a few residences and two small barn/farm houses. I primed everything with black matte rattle can primer intended to bond with plastics and rubber. Everything was base painted, some areas drybrushed, then gloss varnished, inked and matte varnished for appearance. 


Same village with a building removed to fit in a base of Spanish shot. I should add that the village is advertised as 6mm (I'd say it's a big 6mm) but I am using it for 10mm. I find that I prefer to go down one scale for most of my scenery, unless I am playing skirmish or close to 1:1 scale. For my Fenian project, I am using 10mm buildings with 10mm figures.

When I placed the order for this village with TBM, I also ordered an Italian village and a Russian village. I figure the Italian village can see the tabletop when I manage to get my 10mm Risorgimento armies finished and the Russian village is for my Crimean War project (also 10mm). The interesting thing about the Italian village is that it is a one-piece resin model with the buildings and base altogether. 

I might tackle that Russian village next since I will have that Crimean War project that needs finishing (still quite a bit of Turks to paint up). Then again, I have some half-painted 10mm Fenians and Spanish Civil War International Brigade on my table....decisions, decisions, decisions...

Desert Spitfires (and other assorted aircraft)

After taking an exhale from the mad dash of the Pendraken and Badger Games painting competition projects, I decided to paint something as a bit of a diversion. In my previous post, I mentioned that I had recently read Angels in the Sky about the formation of the Israeli Air Force in the 1948 war. I decided to paint up the various aircraft I plan to game the war with. On this cold, windy Sunday I hastily snapped some photos of my aircraft. I apologize in advance for the less than stellar light quality and photos. 


First up are some Egyptian Macchi MC.202 fighters. I'm not sure if the roundels are the proper way but they are pretty small at this scale (1/600).

Here are some Israeli Avia S-199 "Mules" which are a Czech copy (and poor one at that) of the Me-109. 

The Israelis picked up some T-6 Texans and used them as dive bombers fairly effectively. I couldn't find any images of what color scheme they had in 1948 so I opted for a variant of a 1956 scheme. I might brighten the red cowlings up a bit. 

Egyptian Spitfires, I used a few different variants. I used Vallejo khaki and shield brown for the camo scheme. 





Some Israeli Spitfires, different variants and different camo schemes. Green/brown on the left and grey/green on the right. For identification and uniformity purposes I gave the Israeli aircraft red noses or cowlings and the Egyptian aircraft have white noses and identification stripes. 

Here we have an Israeli C-47 getting ready to bomb a village. The village is from Irregular Miniatures, I have a few more that I will paint up as bombing targets.

A rather dramatic posed shot of an Egyptian MC.202 on the tail of the C-47 as it approaches the village for a bombing run.

Here's an Egyptian C-47 in a natural metal finish. I should add that the bases are Litko 30mm squares and there are Pendraken dice frames on the rear of the bases. The Wings at War from Tumbling Dice rules require you to keep track of your aircraft's energy rating and altitude. I plan to do this with mini dice placed in the trays. 

A Texan on a bombing run with an Egyptian Spitfire chasing. 

Another (unfocused) image of the Egyptian Spitfires showing the difference in wing shape and color scheme. The decals are from Flight Deck Decals.

I have more of these models and will most likely add a few more aircraft for this project. Need to paint a few more bombing targets: another village or two, perhaps some troop concentrations, etc. 


Tuesday, February 20, 2024

When the Dust Settles...

As mentioned in my previous post, I have directed most of my hobby attention to the Pendraken painting competition the past few months. I was also convinced into participating in Badger Games painting competition which is to be judged by the attendees of Adepticon. The model is a Space Goblin "musician"...such an awesome sculpt from Regiment Games (see below).











I have to have him shipped to Badger by March 15 so I need to get him finished ASAP. I have to admit that I'm a bit burnt out from the Pendraken competition and it's been a while since I painted 28mm or Gobbos for that matter. At this point I'm.just hoping not to embarrass myself with my entry. 

When the dust settles from the two competitions, I will ultimately return to my 10mm Crimean War project. Before that return, I think I might indulge in a small diversion project. 

I'm a big fan of Tumbling Dice's Wings at War rulesets. Their free game is Desert Spitfires which is a quick play set to refight the air conflict during the 1948 Arab/Israeli war.  











It's a pretty interesting conflict, Israeli had volunteer and mercenary pilots flying Czech versions of Me-109s against Egyptian Spitfires. The Israelis ultimately upgraded to Spitfires (and some Mustangs) and the Egyptians added Macchi fighters to their air fleet. B-17s, T-6 Harvard's, C-47s, and plenty of other planes also saw action in the war.

I had previously tackled (and fumbled) this project years before. Figures had been purchased and priming had occurred but it languished. When I looked at my aircraft from the previous attempt, they were loose and mixed in with other projects. I decided to order some new planes for the project to start fresh. Tumbling Dice sent a small envelope with my order in record time. 

The impetus for restarting this project is that I've been reading Angels in the Sky by Robert Gandt which is an awesome account of the early days of the Israeli Air Force. It's a very readable book and I highly recommend it. 











I think it will be a nice little break from the pressures of painting for competitions and will give me something I can easily finish before resuming the grind of finishing my Crimean War project. 

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Pendraken Painting Competition 2024

I haven't posted in a bit but I have been painting...I took a hiatus from my various projects to paint up some entries for the Pendraken Painting Competition. I can't believe it's been full year since I was in this same position for the 2023 competition. I still remember making the conversions to the little Italian tankette and trying to figure out how they were painted up in the Spanish Civil War. So much of my life has dramatically changed for me in 2023, it really wasn't a good year.  Here is hoping that 2024 brings more joy and less sadness. 

Anyway, I decided the competition would be a good opportunity to kickstart some new projects and resurrect a few dormant ones.

First up is an M24 Chaffee in French service during the Indo-Chinese war, this is "11". I added some homemade storage and a radio wire. The Chaffee (or Bison as the French called them in the war) is a small little bugger but they were thought of quite highly by the French as they offered good firepower, protection and low ground pressure. 












I didn't really do anything spectacular with the basing as these are, first and foremost, gaming pieces. 

Next up is a Viet Minh platoon with attachments. These guys are based for Five Core Company Commander. Each big base is a section of infantry, supported by some support weapons and attachments: a sniper, commander, bazooka team and heavy machine gun. I painted them in a mix of khaki, yellow green and grey green to capture the polygot nature of the uniforms.









The sniper is actually a Japanese sculpt but since the Viet Minh didn't have a sniper in their range and they used a lot of old Japanese kit, I figured it would be quite suitable. 

Next up we visit the late 17th century, specifically 1685 and the battle of Sedgemoor. I painted up Kirke's Lambs, the Queen Dowagers Regiment of Foot. I have painted this notorious unit before in 15mm. If you follow my blog, you may remember I painted up some of the rebels for the 2022 Pendraken competition, after that I let the project languish for nearly 2 years before I tackled these fellas. 



I also painted up Oxford's Regiment of Horse in their blue uniforms and blackened armor. What's interesting about these guys is that I first began painting this unit in 10mm in 2016 or so. They were less than half painted and languishing in a bin for about 7 years so dusted them off (literally) and repainted them I in their entirety. 

















From 1685, we go back to the future to 1866 with the wacky invasion of Canada by Irish American veterans (Fenians) of the Civil War. First up, we have some Canadian militia. The mounted arm of the Canadian force is the Governor General's Bodyguard in their dark blue uniforms trimmed in white. The GGBG weren't present at the Battle of Ridgeway but we're involved in some of the peripheral actions.



















Most uniform descriptions I have seen indicate the cross belt should be white however I saw a black and white photo of a trooper wearing a buff leather cross belt and decided it was a an accurate way of adding a bit more color to the unit. 



Next up we have a mounted officer of the Queen's Own Rifles (QOR) as he leads his men past a fence line at the battle of Ridgeway. The fence is courtesy of Pendraken's very nice fence range and I felt bad butchering a segment for the purposes of this base. I promise to use the remaining pieces in bits of scenery. 





















I painted this mounted officer to represent Captain Otter of the QOR. As such, he sports a neatly trimmed mustache and brown hair. 









Next up is a mounted officer from the 13th Hamilton militia (same sculpt as the QOR officer) looking very triumphant as he rides past a fallen Fenian invader. I painted him up as a specific officer of the 13th but I can't remember his name.at the moment. The fallen Fenian was inspired by some beautiful artwork found in the Osprey volume (which was inspired by an actual black and white photo from the period) that covers the Canadian 19th century militia. 




















Here is our Canadian army commander stand which depicts General Alfred Booker and a member of the GGBG acting as escort. Booker has a map of the area clenched in his right hand. 

Booker gets some criticism for his handling of the battle because he panicked when he saw some mounted Fenian scouts and ordered his units to form square in the middle of a firefight. The ensuing chaos forced the Canadians to retire from the field. 








Here we have 3 companies of Fenian invaders. I painted them in uniform bits described in Peter Vronsky's book about the Fenian Invasion and gave them a conjectural Fenian flag. The Fenians wore surplus ACW kit, some of which was trimmed in green, civilian garb and green uniforms bits.

The figures were sourced from the Pendraken ACW range. I quite like the ragtag look that's tied together by bits of blue and green. 

















And finally we have some Canadian infantry, red clad 13th Hamilton and green uniformed Queens Own Rifles. I should state that I had some difficulty with the uniforms of the Canadians. They used very dark blues and greens that's were hard to replicate in miniatures and still be historically accurate. Hopefully I captured their look decent enough. 






And there we have it. Actually, not quite as I still need to finish up some 1973 Yom Kippur War Egyptians. They will also be based for Five Core Company Commander rules which are my default choice for 20th century conflicts at the company level. Stay tuned for them as I race against the clock to get them finished and photographed. 

UPDATE: I managed to snap some pictures of the 1973 Yom Kippur War Egyptians. I always imagined that if I ever gamed the conflict, I would probably do it in 3mm or 6mm and would probably focus on the armor aspects. Pendraken released their 1974 ranges and I really like the sculpts so I picked some up. I didn't really know much about the Egyptian uniforms so I was surprised to see them in their "assault vests". 



I'm fairly happy with the basing. I used a fiber past with sand glued once dry. The base color was craft paint "teddy bear fur", a diluted AP soft tone wash and then some dry brushing to even everything out. The figures are based for Five Core Commander.